Sunday, September 18, 2011

In the privacy of my own home . . .

While waiting to determine if the wall can be removed and my fantasies can come to life, I have been trying to resist all temptations. No HGTV, no magazines, nothing. I was going to quit cold turkey. But then Matthew was out of town and late one night, in the privacy of my own home, I thought, "What could it hurt to look at a few websites." So when I was sure the kids were asleep, I did it; cautiously at first, then with abandon as the night wore on. First stop, http://www.kitchenaid.com/. Holy cow I didn't even know they could do some of those things - what's a dishwasher drawer? Is it legal? I was even lusting after their garbage disposals and trash compactors. Talk about useful!

Then I got bolder; or maybe I just felt more experienced. Next stop, http://www.jennair.com/. I can't believe I didn't have to sign an age disclosure before entering. I couldn't even look at the pages for too long, my eyes were burning. The best part: they had an option to order a book! I keep looking every day for the brown-paper-packaged book so I can whisk it off to my bedroom and hide it in my mattress. Something to dream about while I await the word on the wall.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

It's not all fun and games and vivid fantasies

Well, it was bound to happen. I put the cart before the horse and am now stuck. All my fantasizing may be for naught if we can't remove a wall (or two) that would be a critical part of the project. So now I'm having to slow down, find an engineer/architect and do the very un-sexy stuff. Of course, this just makes me want a kitchen even more; it's like it's playing hard to get. And what's worse is that all my reading and toy shopping has really fanned my kitchen urges. I close my eyes and I can see it: I will perfect Bouillabaise. Zoe and Dylan will sit happily and do homework (even though Dylan is not yet 4 and doesn't have homework), while I make bread (even though I don't eat bread). I will all of a sudden like eggplant. I will even learn to carry a tune as I hum gaily while whipping up a nutritious yet tasty dinner that everyone loves. And the leftovers will be easily stored in my French door fridge! I might even wear an apron!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

In need of a little reading material

Kitchen design magazines don't come wrapped in brown paper, but they should. As I lingered a little too long in Home Depot's magazine section, I wondered how many books and magazines I could possibly buy to feed my fantasies. The reading material certainly covered every thought and fetish imaginable, from small space designs (were they spying on me?) to lavish commercial looks. How would any of these magazines help me pare down my ideas? All they would do is give me more ideas - which I daresay I didn't need any more! And sure enough, there they were, devices, tools and tricks I had never even thought of but now couldn't get out of my head: warming drawers, built-in coffemakers, under-cabinet mini-fridges (or is that a wine fridge), hidden shelves. Oh, the possibilities were now endless. I decided I could not do this in public - what if I started to drool? So I bought three magazines - fewer than half the ones they had available - to peruse in the privacy of my own home. Plus, then I could rip out pictures and put them under my pillow to dream about them. I figured if I was armed with pre-determined ideas, I could better manage my upcoming consultations with designers and cabinet suppliers, right? I mean,  how hard could that be?

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Like all good fantasies, this one began in the . . .

Bathroom. While hubby and I were on a much-needed adult vacation, I received a text from my mom: "Minor flood in bathroom, need number of plumber and insurance." Um, OK. The minor flood ran into the TV room, buckled the parquet floor and threatened to do some serious damage. The TV room is next to the kitchen. So my mind immediately started to wander. Maybe the damage will be so severe we will have to demolish the room? Maybe it will damage the wall next to the kitchen? Now I will admit, we were at an all-inclusive resort, so while all the flood-plumber-insurance calls and texts were going on, we were a little under the influence. The Stoli Oranj fueled some pretty vivid kitchen fantasy talk. It probably didn't help that we were with my sister-in-law and her husband, who's a contractor. So yes, he's a pro.

Upon our return, we discovered the damage wasn't as total as we had thought - or perhaps hoped. Our insurance settlement was generous, allowing us to replace the floor. And then it started. Hey, we thought, we have some money left over - maybe we should go ahead and redo the very unattractive bathroom. (It has a weird built-in shower that in 5 years none of us have ever used. There is no towel bar. And the only storage is a strange built-in cabinet on the side next to the toilet.)

And then the other shoe dropped. My fantasies were launched by none other than my father, who decreed that it was time to finally do something about the kitchen. The kitchen that three of us can't stand in and get coffee at one time. The kitchen that barely allows us to have a decent dinner (and still requires us to make half of it in the dining room). And forget cocktail hour - that requires a virtual synchronized swimming routine to prepare drinks and appetizers. After all, my dad said, if we're doing two rooms, what's one more? Oh boy.